Boise State will honor 24 seniors on Saturday — many of whom might return next season
The Boise State football team will recognize 24 players before its senior night game against New Mexico on Saturday (7 p.m., FS1).
This senior class holds a special place in the heart of Boise State football coach Andy Avalos — a first-time head coach who returned to his alma mater in January.
“They’ve been awesome, especially as we’ve made tremendous growth in the last month or so,” said Avalos, whose team has won three straight games since its bye. “Knowing most of them from being here before or recruiting them, it’s been such an honor to be able to spend this year with them and see their growth.”
Some of the players honored on Friday will take the field at Albertsons Stadium for the final home game of their college careers. The only way Boise State will play at home again this season is if it hosts the Mountain West championship game or accepts an invitation to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
Most players in the Broncos’ senior class will have the option of returning for another year, though. The NCAA offered all players who were on the roster in 2020 an extra year of eligibility because of that COVID-19-shortened season. That doesn’t mean all of them will take it, but the Broncos could have several sixth-year seniors next fall — and at least one who would be in the seventh year of his college career.
The NCAA eased its cap on roster sizes this year, allowing Boise State to carry as many as 92 players on scholarship, but the original limit of 85 goes back into effect for the 2022 season — meaning the Broncos’ coaching staff could be faced with some tough decisions.
Boise State’s coaches don’t plan to get into which players are returning until after the season, a spokesperson for the program confirmed on Tuesday, but here’s a look at the players who have eligibility remaining and those who don’t.
Note: Three players listed as seniors on Boise State’s roster will not take part in the senior night ceremony on Saturday. Safety Roman Kafentzis and cornerback Jared Reed are both eligible to return next year because of medical redshirts after they missed this season with injuries, according to a spokesperson for Boise State. Reed joined the team this summer after transferring from Utah State.
Senior nose tackle Scale Igiehon isn’t on the Broncos’ lists of honorees, either. He took a leave of absence from the team to deal with a personal issue in September, but he remains on the roster.
Eligible to return next season
WR Khalil Shakir — Shakir is a two-time All-Mountain West pick who earned first-team honors last season. He leads the Broncos with 64 catches for 927 yards and five receiving touchdowns this season. He ranks No. 6 all-time at Boise State with 195 career receptions and No. 7 with 2,688 receiving yards. The senior played as a true freshman, so he still has both a redshirt year and the COVID-19 year at his disposal, but the allure of the NFL Draft may prove to be too much for him to resist.
WR Octavius Evans — Evans was lumped in with the Broncos’ super seniors this year, but the fifth-year senior still has a redshirt year available because he appeared in only two games last season. He has set career highs this fall in receptions (32) and receiving yards (397), and matched his career-high two receiving touchdowns from his true freshman year in 2017.
OL Donte Harrington — Like Evans, Harrington was initially lumped in with the Broncos’ super seniors, but he was actually taking advantage of a medical redshirt year that was available because he missed the 2019 season after suffering a knee injury. He still has the option of taking the extra year offered by the NCAA because of COVID, which would make him a rare seventh-year senior next season. Harrington has appeared in 25 games during his career and played both guard and center.
QB Jack Sears — Sears joined the Broncos last summer after spending three years at USC. He started two games last season, a win at Air Force and a loss to BYU, but he was knocked out of the loss to the Cougars in the first quarter with a head injury. The former four-star recruit has appeared in two games this season but hasn’t completed a pass.
RB Andrew Van Buren — Van Buren has appeared in 32 games since joining the program as a three-star recruit in 2018. He carried the load for the Broncos with starting running back George Holani sidelined with an injury for much of last season, and led the Mountain West with eight rushing touchdowns. The 240-pound senior is tied for No. 5 in the conference with seven this season.
OL John Ojukwu — Ojukwu has started 35 games since 2018. He moved from right tackle to left last season, and he’s the only member of the Broncos’ offensive line who has started all 10 games in the same position this fall. Ojukwu redshirted in 2017 and still has the COVID-19 year available.
CB Caleb Biggers — Biggers joined the team this year after transferring from Bowling Green, and he has started for the Broncos since fellow cornerback Markel Reed went down with a season-ending injury. He has appeared in every game and posted 22 tackles and four pass breakups, and Biggers said last week that he plans to return next season if given the opportunity. He’s the only Boise State player who has publicly announced his intentions.
OL Will Farrar — Farrar joined the Broncos after four years at Texas Tech, but he redshirted in 2017, which means this would have traditionally been the last year of his college career, but he still has the COVID-19 year available. He played guard in the Broncos’ first four games of the season and replaced Harrington as the starting center following Boise State’s loss to Nevada. Farrar was injured before the Broncos’ win at Colorado State and hasn’t played since.
RB Cyrus Habibi-Likio — Habibi-Likio joined the Broncos after spending four years at Oregon, including a redshirt year in 2017, and he has the COVID-19 year available. Primarily used as a short-yardage back by the Ducks, Habibi-Likio came to Boise State with 21 career rushing touchdowns. He’s No. 2 on the team with 321 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, and ranks No. 4 with 23 catches for 213 yards.
DL Shane Irwin — Irwin began his college career at San Diego State in 2017 before redshirting the following year and spending the 2019 season at Long Beach City College. He’s a fifth-year senior and has the COVID-19 year available. He led the Broncos with 6.5 sacks last season and ranks No. 3 on the team with three this fall.
DL Divine Obichere — Obichere joined the program last summer after transferring from Long Beach City College, and he was thrust into action because of injuries and absences related to COVID-19. The 306-pound defensive tackle finished his first season as a Bronco with 18 tackles and two sacks. He has played in seven games this year and recorded his first sack of the season at Fresno State.
S Tyreque Jones — Jones redshirted in 2017 and has started 24 games the past four seasons, including all 10 contests this season. He ranks No. 2 on the team with two interceptions.
WR Davis Koetter — Koetter, the son of former Boise State coach Dirk Koetter, joined the Broncos after three seasons at Portland State, including a redshirt year in 2017. He didn’t play in 2020 after Portland State’s season was canceled. He has 11 catches for 130 yards this season, and he scored his first touchdown in Boise State’s loss to Oklahoma State.
LB Ezekiel Noa — Noa has started 24 games since joining the program in 2017. He started the first four games of the 2018 season before suffering a season-ending knee injury. The redshirt senior has started all 10 of the Broncos games this fall and ranks No. 3 on the team with 60 tackles.
LS Daniel Cantrell — The fifth-year senior has been Boise State’s primary long snapper since 2018. He joined the program in 2017 and didn’t see any action that year, but he was named the Broncos’ Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year.
CB Damon Cole — A former wide receiver, Cole moved to cornerback in 2019. The fifth-year senior appeared in the Broncos’ first six games of this season but was injured in their win at BYU on Oct. 9 and hasn’t played since. Cole joined the team as a three-star recruit in 2017 but didn’t see any action that year.
TE Kurt Rafdal — Rafdal joined the program after spending four years at Nebraska, including a redshirt year in 2017. He has appeared in all 10 of the games this fall and has seven catches for 75 yards.
Boise State super seniors, out of eligibility
DB Kekaula Kaniho — A five-year starter, Kaniho has appeared in a program-record 58 games since his true freshman year in 2017, and has started 44. He has posted 209 tackles, six interceptions and five sacks in his career, and has scored four touchdowns: one on an interception in the 2017 Las Vegas Bowl, two on fumble returns and one on a blocked field goal attempt last season against Colorado State. He’s fifth on the team this season with 44 tackles.
OL Uzo Osuji — Osuji joined the team last summer after spending four years at Rice, including a redshirt year in 2016. He appeared in all seven of the Broncos’ games last fall, making one start. He started at right tackle in the Broncos’ home loss to Nevada this season and hasn’t missed a start since.
P Joel Velazquez — A sixth-year senior, Velazquez has appeared in 54 games since joining the program in 2016. He’s averaging 41.1 yards per punt in his career, and 44.2 this season.
LB Riley Whimpey — Whimpey has appeared in 52 games and started 30 since joining the Broncos in 2017. He led the team in tackles in each of the past two years, posting 83 in 2019 and 61 in seven games last season. He’s second on the team with 62 tackles this season.
OL Jake Stetz — A fifth-year senior, Stetz joined the team as a walk-on in 2017. He has started 20 games since 2019 and was a second-team All-Mountain West pick last season. He has started at three different positions this year after opening the year at right guard, moving to left guard to replace injured teammate Garrett Curran, and taking over at center after Will Farrar was injured.
Medically retired Broncos
DL Aisa Kelemete — An Idahoan from Highland High in Pocatello, Kelemete announced in October that he was retiring because of a string of shoulder injuries, which required five surgeries in five years. He appeared in six career games, including the first three of this season before injuring his shoulder against Oklahoma State.
LB Tyler Visser — Visser also played his high school ball in Idaho, suiting up for Rocky Mountain in Meridian. He also retired this fall because of recurring shoulder injuries. The redshirt senior linebacker joined the Broncos last summer after spending two years at Sierra College.
NEW MEXICO AT BOISE STATE
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Albertsons Stadium
TV: FS1 (Alex Faust, Petros Papadakis). That’s channel 146 on Sparklight, 219 on DirecTV and 150 on Dish Network.
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/KTIK 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: Boise State 6-4, 4-2 MW; New Mexico 3-7, 1-5 MW
Series: Boise State is 10-1 against New Mexico, and the Broncos have won four straight in the series. The Broncos and Lobos didn’t play last season because of COVID-19.
Vegas line: Boise State by 27.5
Weather: High of 49 degrees, 12% chance of rain, 7 mph winds
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 12:55 PM.
